EXCLUSIVE – With only one month to go until the Worker Protection Act of 2023 takes effect, Joanne Cash, Commissioner at the Equality and Human Rights Commission explains what employers can do now to comply with the new legislation.
Personio conducted a survey on 2,000 employees and found that 1 in 10 employees had experienced or witnessed sexual harassment. However, only half reported it. In 2023, the majority of women who appeared before the Treasury Committee’s Sexism in City inquiry gave evidence that this is still a common occurrence. And just last year, the TUC reported that two out of five women had experienced at least 3 incidents sexual harassment in their working life.
Sexual harassment is prevalent in many industries but it often goes unreported. Employers’ obligations and their role have been difficult to define at times. This is about to change.
Workers’ protection is improved
A change in the law will take effect on 26 October 2024. This is the Amendment of Equality Act 2010 Act 2023.
The new law provides greater protection for workers against sexual harassment, and represents a significant shift in the way sexual harassment should be addressed.
It was up to the individual worker to file a complaint when they were subjected sexual harassment. Employers will now have the legal obligation to take reasonable measures to prevent sexual harassment.
The new duty of employers will require them to protect their employees from harassment, whether it is by a client, a patient, a customer or a member of the general public. The TUC survey found that 52% of women between 18 and 34 had been harassed by a third-party at work.
EHRC Updates its Guidance
Employers and HR professionals need to be aware of their new responsibilities, and adapt their policies and procedures to reflect this.
Today (26 September), the Equality and Human Rights Commission has published updated guidelines.
The guidance outlines the legal obligations of employers under the new duty and provides examples that illustrate the steps that employers can take in order to prevent sexual harassment at their workplace.
We would like to thank the readers of Personnel Today for participating in our recent consultation regarding this updated guidance. We wanted to know how people on the ground could help us make our guidance both practical and easy-to-use. Your responses helped us optimise the effectiveness of our guidelines to combat workplace sexual harassment.
What should employers do?
Sexual harassment prevention duty is a proactive and positive duty which requires employers to take reasonable measures to prevent sexual harassing their employees. Employers cannot wait for an incident to occur before taking action.
Employers must be proactive and be able to anticipate situations where workers could be exposed to sexual harassment. They should take steps to prevent this from happening. The preventative duty is an employer’s responsibility to take action if sexual harassment has occurred.
It is a continuous process and the business will need to reassess risks and determine if there are any reasonable measures that can be taken in order to prevent sexual harassment.
What employers consider “reasonable”, however, will vary. The amount of resources, the size of their organisation and the specific risks in their workplace will determine what is “reasonable”. Every employer must comply with the regulations that are appropriate to their size, resources, and nature.
In this context, we encourage employers to adopt a risk-based strategy. The organisations need to evaluate what controls, procedures or policies they can implement to minimise the risks that could lead to sexual harassment. They could be related to power imbalances or job insecurity.
Risk assessment
Our guide outlines what employers need to consider when assessing the risk of sexual harassment and identifying actions they can take. It is important that new policies and procedures are communicated effectively to employees when these steps are taken.
Employers must engage their workers and make sure they know how to report sexual harassment. They should also inform them of the policy they have in place regarding sexual harassment as well as the possible consequences for violating it.
We recommend employers train their employees regularly so they know what sexual harassment is, how to prevent it and how they can be supported if an incident occurs. Employers must also take action to prevent third-party harassment, such as by putting in place reporting mechanisms or assessing workplaces at high risk where staff may be left alone with clients.
Every employee should feel safe at work. The required steps will reduce the number and severity of these incidents, while also improving the workplace culture. This will benefit everyone.
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